A breakthrough vaccine for type 1 diabetes will soon be tested in human trials
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Type 1 Diabetes is an autoimmune disease that affects millions of people worldwide. It has been long suspected, that viral infections may play a significant role in the development of that serious disease. After 25 years of research scientists from Finland are close to introducing a break-through vaccine to the market.
It’s estimated that 5-10% people with diabetes suffer from the type 1 variation. The disease is often described as a “juvenile diabetes” as first symptoms occur during childhood. Although it is believed that main factors contributing to the development of type 1 diabetes are genetic, researchers have been pointing towards viral infections for many years. Now there seems to be proof that this was in fact, a good direction.
Scientists from the University of Tampere, Finland have been researching 100 strains of enteroviruses and found the correlation between six of them and type 1 diabetes. Then, they developed a vaccine for the virus strain most likely responsible for the disease.
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The vaccine has been tested in mice and proved safe and effective. The clinical trials on humans will start in 2018.
Although the vaccine will not cure people already suffering from type 1 diabetes, it could prevent millions of young children from developing it in the first place. It is estimated, that by the year 2050, in U.S. alone, 5 million people would be diagnosed with type 1 disease. That is – if the vaccine would be unsuccessful.
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